Improvement in carriage-curtain fasteners



G. F. WILSON. "Carriage-Curtain Fastener.

`No.,2ll,28 `7. Patented Jan. 7,1879.

UNI'rED SjfrnrEs PArE-Nr-DEEIOE;

GEORGE'E WILSON, or EAST rEovIDENcE, EIIODE ISLAND.

lMPRoi/EMENT IN CARR|AGECURTA|N FASTENERS.

Specification forniingpart of Letters Patent No. 211,287, dated January 7, 1879 application filed October 14, 1878.

VTo all whom it may concern.'`

ofthe town .of East Providence, in the county of Providence and State of Rhode Island, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Method of Fastening Carriage Gur` tains to the frame-work, or to the coverings of the frame-work, of carriages, of which im provements the following is a full, clear, and exact description.'

The object of myinvention is to firmly secure the curtains to the framework, or to the `covering ofthe framework, of a carriage, in such amanner that they cannot be unfastened by` wind or currents of air, to prevent, by suitable' grommets, that portion of the cur-v tain clasped by the button from being torn, and at the same time prevent a disagreeable rattling noise caused by them movement of the carriage.

Uontrivances heretofore devised to attain the object of my invention are both too costly and` attended with many practicall disadvantages. They are either composed of a great number of pieces, which are liable to get out of adjustment and fail ofthe requisite strength, and are difficult, if not impossible, to be manufactured or blackened or enameled without destruction of certain parts; or, when a stationary screwT is used in connection with a revolving barrel and ilange, I -have found that the screw is either too tight on the barrel, which renders the latter difficult to revolve, or too loose, and thus causes unpleasant rattle. In either case the screw is liable to work loose.

Figure l represents a perspective view of a carriage-curtain fastener made inl accordance with my said invention, A in said figure show ing the same applied to the wooden frame of a carriage, and B to a covering of the frame or other thin and flexible part of the carriage. Fig. 2 are sections through the axes of said fasteners. Figs. 3 and 4L are detail views, in perspective, of certain parts; and Figs. 5 and 6, detail views, partly in section, on an enlarged scale, of other parts, as I shall hereinafter more fully explain.

In these figures the same letters arc used to indicate the same parts.

In said figures, a represents part of the form, the one end being preferably tapered or bveled to form continuity of surface with the spherical .head of f the screw. This barrel is provided with a ward or spur, f, which is a blade projecting on the side of the barrel in the plane of its axis.

The peculiar shape of the barrel indicated in the drawings is preferred, for the more ready andconvenient passage on or off the barrel of the grommeted'curtain.

Between the wooden frame and the barrel e of the fastener, I introduce, and so as to butt against the shoulder of the shank Lof the screw, two washers-the one, g, being of leather and placed againstthe wooden frame,

and the other, 71., of metal and intermediate between the barrel and the leather washer g. By this arrangement it will be understood that the barrel will revolve upon a smooth metallic pivot between two smooth metallic plane surfaces, all of which admits of the nicest adjustment without any expense, and the screw carryingthe fastener can be driven home without danger of binding the fastener, or of becoming loose, or of causing rattle.

Vhat I have now described is the stationary part of the fastener. The movableportion, or the part attached to the curtain, is composed of a round disk, t', cut out of pliable metal, with a number of radial prongs, j,

-which'are designed to be bent at right angles to the face of the disk, as shown in Fig. 3, and passed through corresponding openings cut for their reception in the curtain. These prongs are then clinched or bent over against another disk, 7c, of similar diameter, but notched at its circumference for the lodgment of the prongs. This disk is placed on the op- Both disks have corresponding central apertures of even diameter, which is slightly greater than that of the barrel e. On the one side the central apertures are extended into corresponding oblong evenlyshaped slots n, to allow of the passage of the spur through them.

The o11terdisk,i,is furthermoreprovided with an opening, Z, through which is made to project a quadran gular piece of leath er, india-rubber, or other like substance, inserted between the two disks. This opening l, which thus forms the holder of a proj ectingor swell cushion 0r buffer, is diametrically opposite the slot a before referred to, so that when the fastener on the barrel is turned upon its pivot half a rotation its spur will come in contact With the cushion and become softly wedged in that position. Thus all tendency to turn round or to rattle is obviatet In using this carriage -curtain fastener, I take the screw and put it through the revolving barrel, which, as before said, is ofthe same length as the shank of the'screw between the v head and the thread, and then put on the little metallicwasher, which isof a slightlyl larger diameter than the barrel of the screw and the revolving barrel, and then I put onto it the leather washer, which is of larger diameter than the metallic washer. I then insert the screw rmly into the frame-work of the carriage. I am enabled to do this7 by reason of the shoulder upon the screw and the metallic washer, without preventing` the revolving barrel from being easily turned around the screw. The metallic washer, besides this office of enabling me to fasten the screw firmly to the framework of the carriage, presents a hard and substantially anti-friction surface against the revolving barrel, and prevents the wear which would take place were not the metallic washer used.

rlhe hole in the curtain Iprefer to make of a smaller diameter than the metallic disks pense with the leather Washer g, but place on the side opposite to the fastener a nut, o, which is composed of a disk notched on the Lsides, to enable one to hold the same in posi- Itioniwhen the screwis applied. I also, to prevent the same from rotating and wearing the leather, provide the same, upon its mner face,

with one or more little prongs, p, which indent themselves into the leather q, or other soft flexible material to which the attachment is secured.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is as follows:

l. Carriagecurtain fastener composed-of a `spurred barrel revolving upon the cylindrical shank, and of a shouldered screw, substantially fas shown and set forth.

2. The combination, with the shouldered screw and spurred barrel, both the shank of said screw and the barrel being of even length, of a leather and a metal washer,1a`s and' for lthe purposes set forth.

3. A grommet the' face-plate of Which'is p'r'o `vided with a projecting ridge or swell of leather, or other soft and compressible mate- `rial, as andv for the purposes set forth.

4. The combination, with the spurred barrel revolving upon the cylindrical shank ofa screw,

.of an indented and pronged or otherwise equivalently-formed nut, the whole `bein g arranged, in connection with a metallic washer, upon thin and iexible portion of the carriage, as `shown and set forth.

GEO. F. WILSON; Witnesses:

GHARLEs GREENE,

Crais. A. MORRISON. 

